Sunday 26 January 2014

For Want of a Nail...


No nails so all work has stopped.  Naturally, I was supposed to be annoyed and champing at the bit but actually, I was rather relieved and Dominic doubly so.  There were things we could have been getting on with.  Cutting the base boards to go round the outside of Stalag Luft III to deter tunneling for example.  I could also have cut the timbers to make door and frame but neither Dominic nor I could muster a sufficient head of steam to gain steerage way.  Without an excuse, though, idleness is hard to forgive while there is still breath left.  Thankfully, Klein pitched up unexpectedly from Germany late yesterday afternoon and decided to accept an invitation to supper and stay the night.  Tools were downed, bodies washed and I got on with the much more relaxing task of rustling up a chicken curry.  Klein’s favorite tipple is whisky and cola but having overcome his shock at learning he was seeing me sober for the first time in the fifteen years we have known each other, he was too considerate to think about drinking in front of me.  Nice of him but all bollocks, why should social drinkers suffer because an old alcy has finally seen sense?  I hauled a bottle out and poured him a drink.  After that he helped himself.

Klein slept so soundly that by ten this morning I was ready to check his pulse; having a German national die in his sleep in my house so soon after eating one of my curries would take some explaining.  It was lunchtime before everyone was truly up and about.  Instead of hard labour, therefore, the rest of the day was given over to a rather more civilized guided tour of all three sites.  And this was a good thing.  It meant that Alex, Dominic and I actually spent quality time together with Klein.  There was no hurry, we just ambled and were easily and pleasantly distracted by the so often overlooked little things.  I caught a lizard and demonstrated how, when alarmed or angry, it would change colour from a dull and drab brown camouflage to iridescent blue.  Even Klein, who I thought had seen everything, was impressed.  Back home we discussed top bar bee hives and how to catch a swarm.  I told Klein that my enthusiasm for apiarism had been dampened by Marcia who refused to countenance hives in the garden.  Like the bees he is so evidently fond of, he had Marcia sipping nectar from his hand and authority for a hive was duly granted.  An impressive feat given Marcia had been stung by a bee only two days before.  As an agricultural consultant to the Angolan government on behalf of the German government, he knows everyone who matters and promised me good laying hens and ducks to stock Stalag Luft III.

A lazy day but by no means a wasted one.

Harald Klein and Alex with the dogs, Eddie, Charlie and Doggie.
Dominic studying a bit of wood, me drinking Fanta and Alex testing the recently installed steps
One of the cottages showing skylight detail
Foundations going in for the next  of four cottages
The nicely settled in pond.  Full of pan sized fish, just begging for a few willow trees
A normal coloured lizard
Which, if rudely snatched from its reverie, turns blue with apoplexy
Just as I did when I discovered the builders had managed to set fire to the toilet
Eddie and Charlie taking a breather in the shade
Last job of the day, water the raised beds


40 comments:

  1. How can you burn a toilet? I had a worker take a hammer to mine and told me that is how you remove them, I about to come unglued. Fired him and had to buy a new toilet. Our lizards have blue tails all of the time and if caught by a predator, the tail will fall off and continue to thrash back and forth to keep the attention of who ever was after it.

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    1. Our lizards lose their tails as well. I think it is a lizard thing. It seems from the evidence that they stuck a candle on top of the plastic cistern which fell over and ignited the plastic. One of the dangers of doing this is the risk of waking up and finding one's head nailed to the floor when I find out.

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    2. Or when you get some nails.

      The abstinence is taking its toll on your waistline. Well done!

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  2. Looks like a good day and the raised beds look fine too.

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    1. I just wish something would sprout in the beds!

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  3. The cottages look great. Good going on the Sobriety.

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    1. I think they are too close together. Looked OK on the site design. I guess it's too late now.

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    2. I guess you could try and grow some bamboo screening between them to give an illusion of privacy, but I guess the noise of "relaxation" is probably what you want to reduce.

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    3. How about sugar cane? At least we get to suck the juice out of the thinnings!

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  4. jeez talk about nuclear hibachis!!! so what did he do? put a cigarette on the lid of the plastic tank for the loo and forget about it?

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    1. A candle. I will never find out who did it but if I did, I'd tie him to the bog and relight it.

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  5. You're looking positively svelte! The alcohol free life obviously suits you. And I too am wondering how to set fire to a toilet.

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    1. I am enjoying a healthier lifestyle, must be something to do with that!

      You can always try various methods to set fire to your own toilet.

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  6. The cottages are coming along well and "the resort " is really beginning to take shape isn't it? How many cottages before you are able to function?
    Can't believe the toilet !

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    1. I still have to complete the restaurant kitchen, buy all the equipment and find a chef so a way to go yet!

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  7. looking good mate, all your hard work is defiantly paying off, when can the fly fishing instructor move in....lol ;)

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    1. I like your choice of the word 'defiantly' because progress has definitely been against all obstacles thrown in my path!

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  8. Congratulations on the smoke & firewater fight! As to the bees, there is no better association than man & bee. Bee watching will become a very pleasurable pastime. The garden will love it too.

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    1. Yes, and I'll get to further refine my carpentry skills. It's a top bar hive, Jim, but not as we know it!

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  9. The more I see of your estate the more you seem like a member of the aristocracy - Baron Hippo at Gowans Abbey. Nice to see that nature is reclaiming and softening the edges of your pond.

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    1. The pond does look nice, doesn't it? Now I have to fence the property off to keep those not on the highest rate tax band out.

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  10. Wow. It's all looking fantastic; you deserve a Scotch (forget I said that). Did someone set light to a super-fart?

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    1. I agree, I deserve a scotch but it is the sort of award I would have to decline lest it went to my head!

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  11. Great to see all those photos of your environment/dogs/kids. So different to Harpenden! Well done on the non drinking too…..I am about to embark on a week off the booze! ( I hope)

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    1. Sometimes I wish I was a bank teller or librarian in Harpenden! Good luck with going on the wagon. Try drinking DomTom.

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    2. I was a " bank teller" in St Albans until 18 months ago! Not sure about DomTom…I seem to remember it took some time to make? ..and sounded a bit yuk. It is always a problem in a pub or restaurant finding anything other than wine to drink. I don't like fizzy/sweet/fruit juice, which doesn't leave much. Perhaps I could ask for a cup of tea!

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  12. Beds are looking good. How on earth xid yhey set fire to a toilet? Maybe some of the people I've worked with in the past weren't so bad after all. I did have one moron that I set to strip a roof once. After an hour he came up to me and said he couldn't do any more as he couldn't reach the rest - the plonker had started at the bottom!

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    1. That's exactly where I would have started. Take the walls out and the roof comes down by itself.

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  13. Your empire's looking good and I love the look of the cottages. More importantly, I'm really impressed that you poured a whisky for Klein and resisted all temptation to have one yourself. You are amazing. Keep up the good work.

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    1. It was nothing really. Marcia has had my arms cast in plaster so I can pour for others but not myself.

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  14. I didn't know you were building cottages too! So, I should start saving up for an Angola vacation? yippeee except the bills are going up and the income stream down..hmmm

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    1. I do budget rates if you can skin and gut a gazelle.

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  15. Your loo, unbelievable! As to your supplies, it just goes to show that it's not what you know but frequently who you know. I hope Harald get's all you need at mates rates.

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    1. It was the site bog so I am under no pressure to get it fixed quickly but yes, I was left a little speechless.

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  16. The toilet is a work of art. The new Marcel Duchamp.

    I was just thinking, along the lines of Roz, are you building a holiday complex?

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    1. Make me an offer then. Owning an early Hippo is just a signature on a cheque away!

      Yes, I am building a holiday complex the stress of which has given me a complex and driven me away from drink.

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  17. I also thought how the heck do you set fire to a toilet. plastic makes sense...

    I would have thought a candle in a loo with DomTom being ingested, might be a recipe for disaster.

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    1. If they had been drinking DomTom instead of moonshine maybe they would have noticed that the toilet was on fire!

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  18. That bridle young dog of your is too big for his boots. I predict he is going to turn into a real cause for concern. No way should such a young dog be behaving like the "cock of the north" disrespecting the other dogs and your son. Watch him !! And pull him back in line xxx

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    1. He sits and comes back when I call him and shuts up barking on command so that is good enough for me. It is the black dog, Doggie, I could cheerfully garrotte but she was feral when I took her in.

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Please feel free to comment, good or bad. I will allow anything that isn't truly offensive to any other commentator. Me? You can slag me without mercy but try and be witty while you are about it.